Like Father, Like Son
by Chimpukampu
Summary: A father who doesn't know how to raise a son properly, and a son who doesn't have any idea how to be a father - joined together and we got a catastrophe.
1. Three hours later

**A/N: I'm taking a short break from Little Hawkmoth, and decided to post this prequel. It'll be a three-part chapter, and don't worry if this chap is short. Next one is gonna be way longer than this.**

 **There's a lot of angst stories about these Agreste men already, so I wanna try the fluffy side.**

* * *

 **Part I - Three hours later**

A petite raven-haired lady was tapping her heeled shoes furiously as she glared the two men who were sitting sheepishly on the floor. Her arms wrapped a bundled infant in a teether, with its green eyes roaming curiously around the wrecked apartment.

 _Wrecked_ was actually an understatement. The entire unit looked like a tornado visited the place, followed by a stampede, and the mysterious black spot on the ceiling felt like an evidence of an alien invasion.

"So?" the female broke the silence, making the men flinched. "Care to tell me what the fuck happened here, Adrien Agreste?"

Never in his life had he dreamed that someone could instill fear by hearing them utter his full name aside from his father. And he never, ever, dreamed that his father would even cower together with him.

"Don't be mad, Buginette." Adrien tried not to flinch on her steely bluebell eyes. "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?!" her voice hitched dangerously. "I just left for three hours, Adrien. Three hours and within the twenty mile radius from our home! How come these things happened?! And what the hell happened in our house?!"

"Little Lou was unharmed, Marinette." A dishelved Gabriel responded, as he adjusted his cracked eyeglass. "You're just overprotective."

She snarled. "Look who's talking."

The man slumped his shoulders and guiltily bowed his head.

Sensing that his father was losing the argument, the blonde retorted "Hey, now. Respect the elders, will you?"

The two gave him a beady stare.

"You might be my boss." Marinette pointed the bottle feed to the older man. "And you might be my husband." she moved the object to the younger one. "But I am Louis' mother, and I have all the rights to know why my baby was featured in a front page of a newspaper carried by a certain mangy cat as he chased a hoard of butterflies!"

The Agreste men eyed each other innocently and answered "We're only playing tag."

Marinette felt something snapped within her, and all she could see was red. If she wasn't concerned about a father-less Louis, or pitied Nooroo and her frantic kwami (and for some reasons, Plagg was snickering on the sidelines) she might've transformed on the spot and flung the men towards Seine with her yoyo.

"Have you two ever thought of doing things in normalcy?"

"You left your phone." her husband explained. "Father was calling you."

"So I decided to pay for a visit." her boss supplied. "When suddenly, Louis began to look for you."

"I don't know how to reach you."

"And I don't want you to left the runway unsupervised."

Green eyes blinked with disbelief. "Did you just pun, Dad?"

"I didn't." the designer gave him a scornful look. "That's unintentional, Son."

"Oh. It was gait jog, though."

The rattling sound of the baby toy jerked the two from their reverie, as if taunting them with murder.

In the midst of chaos, she was able to pull a chair and sit while cradling Louis as he fell asleep, unaware how his grandfather and father did everything to put him on that state.

Because no matter how cute and adorable he could be, Louis Agreste was still a one hell of a fussy baby.

"Now tell me." the mother crossed her legs. "What the fuck happened here three hours ago?"

Gabriel and Adrien eyed each other again and began to narrate their story.


	2. Three hours ago

**A/N: Okay, I changed it into five parts. Yay!**

 **Happy Thanksgiving!**

* * *

It has been months since Marinette Agreste née Dupain-Cheng was last commissioned for a runway project after her maternity leave. A workaholic since young, Adrien knew she wouldn't take another rest extension, even if he had to cohort her boss.

As a beloved husband, and her faithful partner in life, he always supported her endeavours. He even volunteered himself to nanny their firstborn son.

Unfortunately, he got no experience, or even an idea how to become a nanny, especially for a baby who was barely a year old.

Most people suggested to have them hired a professional sitter, but both decided not to. Not that they couldn't afford one; they preferred to be hands-on parents regardless of their workload struggles.

It might be due to his personal experience, or perhaps their knowledge about how kids searched for parental love. They weren't Ladybug and Chat Noir for any reasons.

Louis Agreste, according to Adrien's standards, was the world's most adorable and lovable baby that all the words in the dictionary paled to describe his perfection. His coifed midnight hair and his sapphire green eyes, he was definitely an angel sent by Heaven.

And like any other angels, Louis was fond of singing his _glorious voice_ especially in the middle of the night, and would do an _encore_ once his parents joined the audience. He later on learned that he was doing it for necessity, or to seek attention.

He was definitely an offspring of Adrien Agreste.

It was early afternoon when Marinette kissed Louis goodbye. He was silent during the exchange, and remained on that state ten minutes after she left the house.

Which was why Adrien was on a full-blown panic when his _concerto_ started.

"What shall I do, Plagg?" the frantic blonde asked. "He's singing...he's singing in _mezzo-forte_!"

"Relax, kid." his kwami sighed for the umpteenth time. "He's just a human baby. A similar species like yours, not mine."

"Mumumumumum..." Louis chattered with watery eyes.

"Aww, buddy. I know you misses Mommy too but she's busy right now." his father cooed, then looked at the timer on his wrist watch.

 _Two hours and forty-five minutes remaining till the rescue arrives._

"Mumumumumum..." he insisted.

"Hey, Daddy's here. You can trust Daddy to do everything like Mommy."

Understatement of the century.

"You could've asked Tom or Sabine." his kwami suggested. "Or Nino and Alya. Give it up, kid. You can't do this."

"I can do this!" he jerked his index towards him with full conviction. "And I will!"

Resigned, Plagg flew out towards the fridge for his comfort food - cheese.

Now that he was completely left alone with a screami - no, _singing_ baby, Adrien went to a full concentration mode.

According to the parenting books, there were several cases an infant would search for Mommy instead of Daddy. And one of them was breastfeeding.

...which he surmised would be impossible for him.

But then, there were feeding bottles.

 _Why didn't I think of that?_ he scolded himself mentally as he rushed towards the cupboards for the baby formula.

He painstakingly used a weighing scale to measure the correct proportion of powder and water. He even tested the mixed formula with a thermometer, making sure that his son would not be scalded or suffered from brain freeze.

"Hurry up, will you?!" Plagg yelled to overpower the baby's voice. "He's making a ruckus!"

"I am!" Adrien replied, applying a finishing touch on the rubber nozzle with a clean soft cloth.

He ran back to the nursery, and with practiced arms he lifted Louis gently, traced the rubber nozzle on his cute pinkish lips, until the world became silent.

Both the adult human and the mini god sighed with relief.

"Aww, buddy. You should've said you're hungry earlier. Don't make Daddy grew bald before nineties, okay?" he cooed when the baby latched on the bottle.

"Adrien." the kwami huffed. "Your kit has his own language called Babbles. Of course he can't tell you that."

"But Daddy knows several languages, right _Baobèi_? _Ma bébé_? _Bambino_? _Malysh_?"

Louis flashed his gummy smiles even though he has no idea what he was talking about.

"Stop that baby talk at once! You're making yourself _sooo_ ridiculous I'm having regrets why I chose you as Chat Noir!"

"C'mon Plagg. Don't bait me with that _whine_ to partner it with a cheese. As if you can resist my wonderful Louis' charms. Look at him, isn't he perfect?"

Shiny blue eyes pored at the god's green sclera ones, as if taunting him like the marbles from Ancient Egypt that he had to dwell with.

He almost did, if only a familiar ringtone didn't snap his reverie.

Adrien knew it was coming from his wife's phone, which happened to be abandoned on their couch.

 _She must've left this out of panic_ , he groaned with conflicting thoughts on how to return it back to the owner, until he saw the caller ID.

Hawkdaddy.

Pressing the answer button while balancing the baby on the other side of his arms, he spoke. "Adrien's speaking."

A beat of silence had passed before the other line responded.

 _"Did Marinette swapped her number?"_

"She didn't. Actually, she forgot to bring this with her."

 _"I see."_

"She left the house few minutes ago, so probably she's at the venue right now." he added before the caller could ask.

Louis spewed the bottlefeed from his mouth. "Mumumumumum?"

" _Whoops_ \- no, buddy. This ain't Mommy." his father whispered as he balanced the bottle feed by his foot before the contents spilled on the carpet.

 _"Adrien?"_

"Ye - yes?" he stammered, cursing himself mentally how his voice still has an effect on him after all the years of abandonment.

 _"Are you with someone?"_

"Ah, not really. I'm talking with Louis."

 _"Can I..."_ the man on the other line trailed off. _"Can I pay him a visit? If that's alright with you."  
_  
That was new. "It's fine. Louis would be more than happy to see you."

 _"I would like to see you too."_

That was new too. "Oh. Okay."

 _"Will it be possible if today? If you two were preoccupied, then it's fine if not, but my schedules are open right now, and I don't think my presence was necessary on the event since it was a soft launch and Marinette can manage everything."_

That too.

"It's alright, Father." he breathed. "Louis and I are available today."

 _"That's good to know."_ was the reply. _"Because I'm actually at your doorstep right now."  
_  
It took him five seconds flat to react on the information.

" _What?_!" the blonde shrieked, almost jolted the baby, then ran towards the entrance.

Before him stood Gabriel Agreste, wearing his usual crisped designer clothes that matched his black rimmed glasses and well-combed white hair. Traces of age and stress were visible on his face, but his cold, stoic eyes were gradually replaced with mild astonishment. He cringed.

"Son." he eyed him coolly. "What's going on here?"

He didn't expect that Adrien would greet him wearing a frilly pink apron over his dark shirt with white splatters, possibly a mixture of liquid formula and baby drools. There were flecks of milk powder on his dishevelled blonde hair, and few strays on his cheeks. A bottlefeed on his right and a baby bundled on his left, he looked like he was modelling for a Home Improvement magazine cover as an ideal house husband - something he was aware of yet never cared at all, which was evident on the euphoria and contentment expressed by his glittering eyes.

"Louis was missing his mom." he answered sheepishly, then stepped aside for his visitor to enter. "Welcome to our humble home, Father."

It was a small apartment but cosy enough to accommodate a newly-settled family. With Marinette's innovative mind and Adrien's organized habits, the interiors showed a domestic bliss.

That, if he would exclude the clutters on the kitchen and nursery area.

"I'm sorry if our house is not much...accommodating right now. Usually, Mari is the one who prepares Lou's milk. I'm still on the process of learning."

"It's fine. I don't mind. Experience is the best teacher, as we speak."

"Yeah, it's fine Master Adrien." a purple butterfly-shaped kwami flew out from Gabriel's breast pocket. "In fact, your house was full of warmth and happiness. It's like every day is sunny here."

"Nooroo." Plagg emerged from Adrien's tousled hair. "You have no idea what you're talking about. This house was nothing but a disaster and chaos. Ever since this kit popped out from Bug's stomach, everyday became a _triple_ _trouble_."

"That's because you're a symbol of disaster and chaos."

"Touché." the black kwami scowled, then eyed the older Agreste. "Do you have some cheese there, geezer?"

"Plagg!" Adrien scolded him, then looked at the man apologetically. "I'm sorry for my kwami's rude behavior, Father. He's been like that since forever."

He waved his hand. "It's alright. I'm actually the rude one here - intruding your home without a gift."

Since when did their father-son relationship become this formal?

Yeah, since forever.

Louis finally noticed the visitor, so he spewed the bottle feed again and uttered "Mumumumumum..."

Fortunately, the bottle was caught by his father again.

Unfortunately, the contents spilled on his grandfather's expensive trousers.

Adrien looked at it with mortification. "Oh my - I'm so - I'm so sorry, Father! Please forgive Louis. He might have a strong grip, but his fingers are still small to hold the bottle, and - "

"It's fine, Adrien. You don't need to worry. I have lots of pieces to replace this." his father interjected, which didn't help his anxiety. "This is nothing compared to the number of garments you've ruined when you're at his age."

His son momentarily stopped rambling.

"I can't remember how many dress suits you've gurgled during your lactation period. And when I thought solid foods were easy to wash, alas, you've proven me wrong." Gabriel continued with a wistful smile as he wiped the formula with a silk handkerchief.

Two pairs of blue eyes met, and when the man opened his arms, Louis stretched his.

"Mumumumumum..." the baby garbled again, making the grandfather chuckled.

"So _'Mum'_ is the first word, huh? It wasn't easy for babies to roll their tongues yet, so better wait for a month or two on that. You know, it took you exactly twelve months to call me _'Dad'_." he paused, then gave him an imploring look. "May I...?"

"Of - of course." Adrien answered, surprised on why his father was telling him a story of his past, and more on how Louis was accepting his presence.

He wasn't a gregarious type of baby, and would often fuss whenever someone cuddled him up aside from his parents, or Marinette's parents. Once the baby settled on Gabriel's arms, he hurriedly placed a small towel on the man's shoulder.

"In case Louis regurgitates. Or drools. We don't want to ruin another dress suits." he explained shyly. "Got it from experience."

"You're learning." his father commented, making circular motion on the baby's back as he burped.

"What did you do?"

"Hmm?"

"What did you do." Adrien stated again."When I first called you as _'Dad'_?"

Gabriel held his gaze and beamed. "I cried."

That was supposed to be a solemn moments between the two Agrestes, but got cut off when something _snapped_.

It seemed that Louis was curious of Gabriel's glasses and accidentally broke the frame.

With a swift move, the adults responded promptly before he could swallow the item.

"Mumumumumum! Mum! Mum!"

"No, buddy." Adrien soothed when small hands made some insistent air grabs. "I'm so sorry, Father. I forgot to tell you that he's into glasses. I already lost two pairs from him."

"Strong grip, indeed." Gabriel commented, then froze when the baby scrunched his face...

...and bellowed in _forte_.

No one could describe the oddity of two adult Agrestes dancing on their own version of Salsa, with a glasses-less Gabriel making funny faces while a frenzied Adrien doing peekaboos.

However, such actions only changed Louis' temper into _mezzo-forte_.

"Plagg!" the blonde called his kwami. "Distract him!"

"What?! Why?"

"Because!"

Plagg eyed his charger viciously, and with a sigh, the kwami began to sing:

" ** _One litte, two little, three little Camemberts. Four little, five little, six little -_** "

"What the hell, Plagg?!"

"Hey! Mine's better than your _Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Red Polka-Dot B_ -"

"Silence, you two." the elder admonished, then eyed his own kwami. " **Nooroo, Transform me.** "

A purple light blasted on Gabriel's body, and for a second Adrien got worried if the transformation blinded his son, but it appeared that Louis found the sight quite appealing.

And the world became silent again.

The trio in the room sighed with relief.

Never in his life he dreamed that one day, Hawkmoth would come inside his home and cradle his son without giving a bloody fight, or that he would allow his old nemesis to flap his akuma thingies around the baby.

For a fifteen-year old Adrien, the sight must be terrifying.

"Hello there, my dear grandson." Hawkmoth cooed as Louis palmed his dominatrix-like mask.

"Mumumumum...mumumum..."

Adrien couldn't tell if the butterflies that fluttered near the infant happened to be synchronized to the proverbial one on his stomach. He wasn't sure if he should remained calm and collected while forcing himself to enjoy the scene.

"I can see his potential to become a Butterfly wielder." the ex-villain grinned. "He's so attuned with my familiars."

He crossed his arms with a frown. "I disagree. He's curious like a kitten, and that's definitely a Chat Noir trait."

"Pure baloney."

The adults were busy with their discussions to notice how Louis captured one of the butterflies and chomped the wings with his mouth.

The reaction was instant.

The swarm created a pandemonium, swirling around like a tornado, and in a blink of an eye, the entire apartment was akin to a war zone.

Never mind the clutters in the kitchen and in the nursery - their furnitures were stumbled down, the curtains were destroyed, the wall decors were ripped and the living room components were busted.

Adrien knew he would be _catastrophically_ dead later by his own beloved wife.

"Wow. Your son Cataclysm-ed your house." Plagg commented.

"OOOOOOUCH!" Nooroo yelped as the poor kwami stripped Hawkmoth's transformation and flew out from the premise, weeping. "HE BIT ME!"

"Gosh, buddy." Adrien sighed at the baby. "You might be Ladybug's child, but that doesn't mean you can eat akumas to purify it."

The changes of his grandfather's appearance frightened Louis so much that he summoned all of his strength...

...and cried in _fortissimmo_.

The quartet was starting to run out of ideas, and resorted on Plagg transforming Adrien into his feline superhero when the world suddenly went silent again.

"Uh - oh." Gabriel's uttered, with face fell ashen when the baby puffed his.

"Father, what's wrong?"

"Uh - oh." he uttered again when the baby's brows furrowed with puckered lips.

"Father, what's wrong?" the blonde asked again with terror. "Please tell me there's nothing wrong with my son."

"Adrien." the man looked at him with mortification. "Your son was trying to excrete his feces."

"Geez, Dad, you don't have to say it explicitly!"

He immediately passed the baby back to the father as if he was holding a time bomb.

"Here. Take him." he commanded stoically.

"But - but..."

"No _buts_ , Adrien."

He paused.

"...was that a pun, Dad?"

Gabriel's eye twitched.

"Okay, okay. I got it." Adrien raised his hand as if surrendering, then frowned. "I don't know how to change nappies, Father."

"Son." the elder man sighed. "You're Chat Noir, hero of Paris. Defender of Justice. If you were able to prove your worth by defeating hundreds of enemies, then changing a single diaper would be nothing."

"But I need your guidance here." his son pleaded.

He shook his head. "This is a battle you must take alone. Face your fears, and trust yourself. You can do it."

"Have you done it before? Changed my nappies when I was at Lou's age, I mean?"

"I have. Once." he confessed. "And that was the worst decision I ever made in my entire life."

Silence.

"You have no idea how much hate you right now." Adrien deadpanned.

"It wasn't a sight to behold, to be honest."

"I can't believe my father puked after seeing my poop!"

"I didn't puke." Gabriel retorted. "I fainted."

Another silence.

"I really hate you, Dad." was Adrien's reply before his son started to sing in _fortissimo_ again.

With some condemnations and resignations later, the Agrestes made a beeline towards the nursery area.

"Listen up, Adrien." the elder Agreste said. "Before we start, make sure to have your things prepared."

The younger Agreste nodded, placing a yelli - no, _serenading_ baby on the counter table. "Diapers, check. Wet wipes, check. Tissues, check. Rash cream, check. Fresh onesies, check. Uh, what else...distractions. Distractions! Plagg!"

"I'm warning you, Adrien. Babysitting is not part of the bargain! This is clearly an abuse of Miraculous!" the kwami hissed.

"What's wrong with you flying over Lou's head?!"

"He tried to nibble my tail!"

"Then let him _nib_ \- you know what, forget it. I don't want Lou to get some bacterial infection."

" _Excuse me?_! For your information, I'm perfectly hygienic, and I always clean myself!"

A minute later, the poor kwami allowed himself to be played by his charger's kit while trying to protect his tail's dignity.

It wasn't much a debate on who would clean the baby and who would throw the nappies.

"Can we use some face mask instead?"

"If you have some here, then why not?"

The two men made a grave mistake when they covered their faces with surgical masks. A simple cloth wouldn't do either because Louis would wail out into _fortissisimo_.

He might've been thinking that the aliens replaced his father and grandfather.

Hence, no facial covering. Ergo, no breathing.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Adrien carefully undo the sticky belt and moved it well out of the way. Once he pulled the front cover, he immediately learned why it wasn't a sight to behold.

In fact, smelly poops and pees were _disgustingly_ bad.

Trying not to gag or faint, he waited for a few seconds - in case his son would make a last-minute pee - before he held both ankles and discarded the diaper.

"Dad!"

Gabriel hurriedly took the offending object then ran outside the room for disposal.

Despite unsupervised, Adrien was able to clean the baby's butt, as well as the front in gentle manner. After applying the cream, he slipped the fresh diaper and securely fastened it per instructions.

Louis whimpered when he tried to change his onesie, but settled down afterwards due to Plagg's sacrifices.

He was able to finish the task in less than five minutes,

What an achievement!

He could brag this to anyone!

When he turned around, Adrien realized that his father failed to return after his dumping duty.

"Dad?"

Panic arose when an idea that his father fainted somewhere before or after he could dispose the diaper correctly. _Was he really that traumatized seeing his childhood butt?_

Carrying a sniffling baby, the blonde went out and found his father standing ramrod straight in the middle of the room, with his cold eyes glaring at their ceiling.

He followed his gaze and saw the used diaper hanging low and was threatening to splat down in any minute.

"It glued on the spot." was Gabriel's explanation before he could ask how the hell the object ended up there.

Nooroo couldn't tell, and he knew he had sworn secrecy with his Master. Plagg might have a clue, but decided not to say it.

Without waiting for Adrien's reaction, he pulled out his phone and dialed an unfamiliar number.

 _"_ _Billancourt Cleaning Service, how may I assist you?"_

"We have a situation here at 18 Rue de Fromage, Apartment 13B in 21st Arrondissement that requires your immediate action. Lime green paints might be needed on wall patches, and silver on some minor window treatments. Most furnitures are fine, slightly disarranged yet cleared with visible damages. Some appliances seem to be operating well, but the wiring on the living room area must be diagnosed by a Certified personnel." he narrated. "And most of all, there's a filthy-used diaper that got stuck on the ceiling."


End file.
